In The Grotto
by Basic Trainer
Summary: It's Christmas time and a department store's grotto is having problems, will everyone get what they want in their stocking or will there be a surprise waiting for them?


**Time for another Christmas one-shot.**

 **Hope you enjoy it.**

Ages

Ash – 21

May – 20

Dawn – 19

Drew – 21

Brianna – 21

Clemont – 20

Bonnie – 16

Serena – 20

In The Grotto

"Dawn, I think I hate you."

"Oh, come on May. The outfits aren't that bad." Dawn replied.

"'Aren't that bad'?" May said as she turned to face her friend. "You said I'd be wearing a skirt, not a wide belt." May tugged at the white trim on the short skirt she was wearing to try and cover her legs more while at the same time keeping hold of the waist band to stop it from slipping too far down.

"It's not much shorter then my normal skirt." Dawn said facing a mirror as she trying to find the perfect angle to wear her Santa hat.

"I don't know why I let you talk me into these things. Why couldn't I just say no like Misty and the others?"

"You know why, they all had reasons they couldn't do this. There's people off sick on Sport so Misty, Brock and Iris can't help out in the Grotto, same with Cilan in Household, Serena in Kidswear and Clemont in Computing. That's why Brianna from HR got roped in, the only other departments that could spare staff were Womenswear, Cosmetics, Menswear and Entertainment. We have to play Santa's helpers, Drew volunteered to be Santa for some weird reason, he hates kids, and that leaves Ash as an elf by default." Dawn finally turned away from the mirror. "How do I look?"

"Like someone I hate." May deadpanned.

"Aww, grumpy May is no fun." Dawn skipped over to the brunette and poked May's cheeks before moving her fingers up to make the brunette smile. "Let's bring out happy May, she's much better company."

May tried to resist the urge to smile but slowly her resolve to remain angry at Dawn fell away as she started to grin and giggle at her friends antics.

"There we go, happy May is back." Dawn took her fingers away from May's cheeks. "So I'll ask again, how do I look?" The blunette gave a little twirl, letting her skirt lift slightly with the spin.

"You look great Dawn. Anything that shows off your legs makes you look great, you know that." May said with a sigh.

"I know, I just like to make sure." Dawn replied with a cheeky grin as she leant back against her locker. "Your turn, give me a twirl."

"I don't want to." May pouted.

"Oh come on, just imagine you're doing it for Ash." Saying that earned Dawn a glare from May. "Like everyone doesn't know you like him." May blushed and gave a quick twirl.

"Happy now?"

"Oh yes." A male voice came from the door. "Very happy." Both girls turned to the door and May gasped, her hands automatically dropping to make sure her skirt was straight.

"Get out of here Drew, this is the girl's locker room."

"I know and I can't get out cause I'm not in there, though I'll come in if you want me too." Drew said as his eyes ran up and down Dawn and May's bodies. He was wearing a Santa suit with the jacket open showing the fake stomach and held the fake beard in his hand.

"You come in here and I'll report you." May said.

"Forget reporting him, I'll stick the fake stomach right up his…" Dawn started before getting interrupted.

"Whoa there, Dee Dee. There's no need for violence." Drew said holding his hands up in surrender, as Dawn's clenched in anger from the use of her hated nickname. "Boss just told me to let you know we're due out in five minutes, so finish getting ready." Drew fastened his jacket and put on the fake beard. "I'll see you both outside Ho. Ho. Ho." He smirked before swaggering away.

May slowly turned to Dawn and glared at her again.

"No, I know I hate you for talking me into this." May growled.

"Come on May, just think of what Ash will think wearing that." Dawn said as she took a step back and a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead. May just glared at Dawn for a couple of seconds before stalking out of the locker room, Dawn let out a sigh of relief before following her out to the shop floor.

The Christmas Grotto was a standard set up and Drew sat in an armchair with Brianna stood behind his right shoulder dressed as Mrs Claus. Dawn and May were stood just in front of Drew to each of his sides, passing him a present for each child that sat on his lap. Due to him wearing the fake beard no-one could see the scowl on Drew's face every time a child came to him though May and Dawn could tell that he was regretting the fact he'd volunteered to be Santa.

May passed a present to Drew for the little girl that sat on his lap but the girl shifted on his lap and knocked his arm making him drop the present. Not really thinking about it May turned and bent down to pick up the present that had rolled behind her, it was only when she turned back round and passed the present to Drew again that she saw the look in his eyes that she'd realised what had happened. She was so busy dealing with the children, parents and picking out the right type of present she'd forgotten about how short her skirt was, plus she usually wore pants for work or shorts outside of work.

After that Drew became very clumsy with the presents, May and Dawn were trying to make sure Drew had a firm grip of the presents before they let go. Ash, thought a little dense, could see what was happening but his job was to keep the children in the queue happy till it was their turn to sit on Santa's knee and he'd walk them up to May and Dawn. He wanted to help his friends but couldn't think of a way to do it without causing a scene, as he kept the children entertained he tried to think up a plan when he heard Drew talking.

"Who wants to have a picture of Santa's beautiful helpers sitting on Santa's knee?" He said, lowering his voice to the appropriate deepness for the character. Even though May and Dawn tried to hide their disgust, it did show on their faces a little. Some of the parents had noticed what Drew was doing and felt sorry for the two girls but didn't want to ruin the visit for their children so kept their peace resolving to tell a supervisor when they got the chance. All the children cheered at the idea of the photograph, taking away any chance of Dawn and May being able to back out. They slowly walked towards Drew, taking small steps to delay it as much as possible when Ash jogged between them and after a little skip into the air spun and dropped into Drew's lap, causing him to groan in pain.

"Come on Santa, smile for the kids." Ash grinned as he waved at the cameras. "Picture time." Ash said with a manic grin as he wrapped an arm around Drew's neck. All the children started to giggle as their parents took photographs, after a few minutes Brianna reached into her pocket and took out a watch.

"I'm sorry everyone but it's time for Santa to have his lunch. He'll be back in 30 minutes to see the rest of you." She said apologetically as Ash stood from Drew's lap and helped him to his feet.

"I'll get you for that Ketchum." Drew growled lowly as he walked out of the Grotto and towards a door marked 'Staff Only'. There was a slight hobble in his step and Brianna took him to see the first aider while May, Dawn and Ash went to the staff room to get something to eat.

"You didn't have to do that Ash." May said, "We could've found some way of getting out of it."

"I couldn't just stand there and let Drew do that to you...two." Ash replied with a slight blush as he tried to cover him mistake, though both May and Dawn had caught it. Dawn grinned devilishly and May just looked away shyly.

They ate their lunches in silence and a few minutes later they heard someone coming, the door opened and Clemont walked in with his sister behind him.

"Bonnie, I still don't see why you want to help out in the Grotto, you won't get paid for it." He said.

"I know but it looked like they could use some help." Bonnie replied as she entered the room wearing an Elf's costume complete with curled toe shoes and bells. "Oh hey, everyone." She added when she saw Ash, May and Dawn in the room. Bonnie and Clemont sat with them and chatted for another few minutes until Brianna came to the staff room.

"We have a problem, the first aider says Drew's got a bit of bruising on the muscle and can't go back out because with children jumping up and down on his leg will just make it worse." She said, giving as a glare. "I'm going to make sure he gets some rest so we're going to have to close the Grotto and…."

"No we don't." Dawn interrupted. "Ash can be Santa, May can take over your role as Mrs Claus, I can handle passing the presents over on my own and Bonnie wants to help out so she could take over Ash's role. It would look bad for the store if shut the Grotto with all those kids waiting. I'm pretty sure Serena's shift finishes in about an hour so we might be able to get her to help out with the presents." Ash and May looked at Dawn in surprise before turning to Brianna and agreeing with the blunette's plan.

"Yeah, I want to help." Bonnie added. "I can do Ash's job easy, I just have to walk the kids over to Dawn." Brianna thought the idea over.

"You're not a member of staff though." She said looking at Bonnie. "If anything happens then we wouldn't be insured."

"Nothing will happen though, plus I came here to hand in a job application anyway. Can't you treat this as a trial period?" A small smile crossed Brianna's lips.

"If you give me that application now, I can run it up to the manager and might be able to get it processed quick enough for this to work." Bonnie opened her bag and took out a neatly folded piece of paper, handing it over to Brianna. Unfolding it and looking it over Brianna nodded, seeing everything was in order.

"I'll go and talk to the manager now." She started to leave the room but stopped on the threshold. "Two things, one, you won't be getting paid for this."

"That's fine."

"And two, Ash, May be ready to get changed if this works." The pair nodded and Brianna went to talk to the manager.

15 minutes later.

Brianna came back into the staff room with the Mrs. Claus and Santa Claus costumes.

"Congratulations Dawn, you've saved the Grotto, Ash, May go and get changed. Bonnie, you've got the job there'll be a contract for you to sign when you've finished in the Grotto and Clemont can you go talk to Serena about helping out once she's finished?" Everyone nodded. Ash and May gathered their new costumes from Brianna going to the locker rooms to change and Clemont left to go find Serena, leaving Dawn and Bonnie to chat. The chat involved Dawn enlisting Bonnie into a hastily prepared scheme.

Just before they were due to open the Grotto again Ash knocked on the door of the ladies locker room.

"Er, May..can you help me with something?" He asked through the closed door. The door opened to reveal May fully dressed as Mrs. Claus and just finishing putting her hair up in a bun.

"What is it?" She looked Ash over and saw that he was wearing the outfit but the jacket was open and he held the fake stomach in his hand.

"I'm having trouble with the straps on this. Drew's smaller then I am so…"

"It doesn't fit you." May finished. Ash nodded in confirmation, making May giggle a little. "Pass it here." May took the fake stomach from Ash and quickly untangled the straps from the weird arrangement Drew had them in. "Okay, hold your arms out to the sides and you'll be wearing it in no time." Ash did as he was told and let May slide the straps over his shoulders but still under the jacket and tighten them up. May couldn't resist the urge to take her time and let her hands slide over Ash's shoulders and chest under the appearance of making sure the straps weren't twisted. Once she was happy the straps were the right length to hold the stomach in the correct place, she took hold of the final two straps and leant forward a bit as she reached around Ash's waist to clip it together, her face nearly pressed flat against Ash's chest. While May was trying to get the clip to lock Ash couldn't help smelling May's perfume and shampoo, the combination of which had him slightly dazed.

"That's a nice perfume you're wearing." Ash said trying to make a bit of conversation as he felt a little awkward.

"Thanks, but I'm not wearing perfume." May replied quietly as she still struggled to fasten the final strap.

"Ash, May it's time to…Oh." Dawn said as she turned the corner, before smirking and leaning against the wall. "If I knew you were going to be like that I'd have given you a few move minutes."

"It's not like that." May huffed as she managed to get the last strap clipped together and stoop up straight with a blush on her face. "Let's go." May marched down the corridor and past Dawn, leaving Ash embarrassed and a little confused as he buttoned his jacket closed and adjusted the suit so it was comfortable. Dawn chuckled as May stormed past her and waved Ash towards her.

"Come on Santa, can't keep the kids waiting." Ash nodded and followed the blunette out on to the shop floor.

They reopened the Grotto and quickly fell into the routine of Bonnie walking one of the children to Ash, Dawn passing a present to Ash and then a picture being taken of Ash giving the present to the child. After about half an hour Serena came to join them wearing the outfit May had worn earlier.

Just before the Grotto closed for the day a girl, who was about 10, walked up with Bonnie but stopped before getting to Ash and looked between him and May.

"If she's your wife why doesn't she sit on your lap?" The little girl asked causing May to blush. Ash gave a deep jovial laugh as he stayed in character, though a blush could just about be seen under the fake beard.

"You have a point, young lady." He said before turning to May. "Come now Mrs. Claus." Ash patted his knee. "Let's have a picture taken for the children." May was happy to sit on Ash's lap but felt nervous doing it on the shop floor so she shyly walked around from behind Ash and sat on his knee.

"You need to get closer than that." The little girl said, crossing her arms. May was hesitant to move but Ash didn't give her a choice when he quickly bounced his leg causing her to move closer to him and put an arm around his neck. The little girl studied them closely before speaking again. "Now kiss."

May's eyes widened and snapped to glare at Dawn, sensing the blunette had something to do with this. Her suspicions were proven correct when she saw the grin on her friends face. It seemed that Dawn had somehow got a few of the parents to join in as they took pictures and encouraged them to do as the girl had asked.

Slowly May turned to look at Ash, she could see he was as unsure as she was but he surprised her by moving forward. May then surprised herself by moving to meet him, her body seemed to be acting of its own accord. Their lips met in and their eyes closed in tandem, they held the kiss for a few seconds before separating and opening their eyes again. May was blushing brightly but she could see that even though the kiss was short and tame Ash fully understood what she felt, just as she understood how he felt. Out of the corner of her eye May caught, Dawn and Bonnie sharing a high five with the girl who'd gotten them into this position. The brunette silently promised to both thank and get revenge on Dawn at the earliest opportunity before turning her full attention to Ash, smiling brightly at him.

"Merry Christmas." Ash smiled.

"Merry Christmas." May replied giving him another peck on the lips.

 **That's all I've got for now.**

 **Next is a New Year One-shot.**

 **Until Next Time**

 **Basic Trainer**


End file.
